


Jailbreak Fever

by cryptid_librarian



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb Whump, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, First Meetings, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Nott (Critical Role), Sickfic, Whump, bondage but not the sexy kind, my take on how they might have met in jail, sir that's my emotional support Frumpkin, spoilers for nott's backstory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2020-07-29 16:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20084998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptid_librarian/pseuds/cryptid_librarian
Summary: Without realizing it, Nott had collapsed to her knees by the cell door in despair, staring despondently into the shiny bauble in her hand that was now the only item she had to her name. Seconds passed, or maybe minutes, before distantly she heard the sound of a snap, and a swath of warm fur brushed against her outstretched hands.“What?!” Nott shrieked, backing away from the sudden appearance of a cat, before stepping towards it again with a growing snarl, bauble forgotten as it rolled away from her feet. She had been surviving off rats and thrown away food for the past few months, so a cat wouldn’t be any worse.She was about to pounce forward when a quiet voice spoke up from the back wall, a soft wheeze audible between phrases. “Bitte… don’t eat… my cat.”





	1. Chapter 1

Nott had the itch again. Ever since being cursed into her current form, she had been plagued with new impulses she could barely control, ones she barely  _ wanted  _ to control. It had been a harmless bauble, probably even worthless, but Nott could not get the vibrance of its shine out of her mind or the soft twang of the metal as it swung lightly against the woman’s belt. And she had been on a roll recently, swiping objects left and right without even a glance in her direction. She had become too confident and failed to consider the crownsguard patrolling the marketplace near her target or that in snatching the bauble, it would become stuck briefly against the fabric of the woman’s pants and cause a quick tug. The scream that followed from the woman after seeing a goblin clawing at her side, however, was less unexpected. Nott herself had spent many days screaming at her foreign features, hoping that if she yelled loud enough, it would be enough to wake her from this nightmare. Screaming never helped, and she expressed this fact of life in a snarl as she backed away from the terrified woman, shiny bauble clutched so tightly in her palm that she felt it digging marks into the green skin.  _ Let it _ , she thought, as she turned to dash into the crowd and disappear in the bustle of the Deastok marketplace, only to collide directly into the knees of a crownsguard, a disgusted scowl cracked across his face as her grasped hold of a fistfull of Nott’s hair.

“Dirty beast,” the guard spat as he dragged her away from the woman. Nott kicked and scratched against his grip as she was taken away from the marketplace, but was unable to break free. In her snarling haze, she felt herself being held up for another guard to see, shaken for emphasis. “What should we do with this one?”

The other guard appraised Nott with a similar level of disgust as the first guard had displayed, chuckling darkly after a moment. “Throw her down into the cell with the other vermin; we can take bets on who survives longer.”

That was how Nott found herself being forced deep into the Deastok jail, all over a shiny bauble that she still had hidden in the palm of her hand. The guard restraining her stopped in front of a heavy iron door, the barred opening near the top of the door currently covered with a retractable metal sheet. After inserting a ring of keys and sliding the door open, Nott was tossed in, crashing into the far wall and falling into a small puddle that most likely was from a leak in the ceiling, right next to another prisoner who was shackled tightly to the stone wall. The figure flinched at the sudden contact, attempting to shy away but being pulled back by the restricting shackles. Hissing, Nott scurried out of the water and into the back right corner of the room, looking around wildly as the iron door slammed shut and relocked. Focusing back on the door, she rushed up to it, pulling at the handle in an attempt to wrench it free with strength alone. When that failed, she began patting down her clothes, becoming more frantic as she realized her bag that stored all of her collections and her lockpicking tools had been taken. Those collections had been the only remaining part of her she liked, and now even they were gone, just like her past life had been stolen from her. 

Without realizing it, she had collapsed to her knees by the door in her despair, staring despondently into the shiny bauble in her hand that was now the only item she had to her name. Seconds passed, or maybe minutes, before distantly she heard the sound of a snap, and a swath of warm fur brushed against her outstretched hands.

“What?!” Nott shrieked, backing away from the sudden appearance of a cat, before stepping towards it again with a growing snarl, bauble forgotten as it rolled away from her feet. She had been surviving off rats and thrown away food for the past few months, so a cat wouldn’t be any worse.

She was about to pounce forward when a quiet voice spoke up from the back wall, a soft wheeze audible between phrases. “Bitte… don’t eat… my cat.”

Nott spun around to face the source of the voice, the shackled prisoner she had fallen into earlier. He was covered in a healthy layer of dirt, the jacket over his shoulders filthy and permeated with holes. His light blue eyes were clouded over and his skin had an unnaturally pale sheen. Despite the coat, he was shivering slightly, and Nott realized his clothes were soaked through, feeding into the puddle she had briefly dropped into. “Your cat? Where did it come from?”

The man shrugged, wincing at the movement. “You were upset,” he said, as if that explained everything.

The cat meowed, influencing another startled hiss as Nott jumped further away from the feline.

“I am sorry,” the man murmured at Nott’s apparent fear of the cat, and with a snap of his fingers, the cat vanished. “I thought my cat,” another wheeze as the man attempted to catch his breath, as if the mere act of apparating and de-apperating the cat had winded him. “might cheer you up.”

Nott stared at the space the cat had been incredulously, then back at the prisoner, then back again. Gears started to churn in her head as she tried to make sense of what she just saw. In a somewhat feral excitement, she ran up to the man and kneeled next to him, eyes wide with curiosity. “How did you do that? Was that magic? Where did it go— was that even a real cat? Can you do anything else—”

The man flinched at the sudden closeness, turning his head away as if he thought he was going to be hit. When no hit came, he reluctantly relaxed, still avoiding eye contact. “It— It’s both a real cat and a magic cat.”

“But surely that’s not all you can do!” Nott prodded, trying to catch the man’s eye.

The man shook his head but then paled, holding rigidly still for a moment as if regretting that small movement. “N-nein, I can—” a hoarse coughing fit cut him off and he tried to turn his head to the side away from Nott. He took a moment to try and catch his breath, the wheezing sound more pronounced. “I know a few other tricks.”

“Are… are you alright?” Nott asked, turning her head to try to get a better look at the man in front of her. Though he was shivering, she realized she could feel an unhealthy heat radiating off of him.

“Ja, ja I am fine,” he mumbled, his eyes closing tiredly. 

For some reason, Nott felt an anger growing within her, an instinct to protect that she had buried deep within her since losing her child. “You have a funny definition of fine.”

The man’s eyes stayed stubbornly closed, and a flare of panic shot through Nott. “Hey, hey, what's-your-name,” she prodded, pushing on his shoulder when he failed to respond. “You should probably stay awake.” He mumbled something vaguely Zemnian but didn’t wake. “I… I want to see your cat again.”

That seemed to get a reaction as his eyes slowly reopened, as if encased in molasses, and he gave a weak smile before snapping his fingers again. His cat reappeared, this time on his lap facing Nott. 

Nott fought the urge to hiss at the cat again, this time forcing herself to pat the cat on the head roughly. “Uh, nice… cat. What is your name, anyway?”

There was a moment of silence, and Nott thought he might have fallen back asleep, when he spoke up again. “Caleb Widogast. And you are?”

“Nott the Brave,” she said confidently.

“Ah, one of us has to be brave in here, I suppose,” he commented, laughing softly.

“No, there’s no comma,” Nott corrected briskly.

Caleb stared longingly down at the cat in his lap, a small smile gracing his features. “You are petting a magic cat, so that seems pretty brave to me, ja?”

Nott looked down to realize she had been petting the cat absentmindedly and pulled her hand away. “I guess… does your cat have a name?”

Caleb nodded, the pain on his face easing away slightly while focused on the purring cat in his lap. “Ja, his name is Frumpkin. He’s—” 

The sound of stomping boots in the hallway leading up to their cell cut him off, a look of fear crossing over Caleb’s face before he quickly snapped his fingers, Frumpkin vanishing again with a vague pop. 

“You think the goblin has dug into him yet? Five silver on the goblin,” a nasally voice said gleefully.

A scoff followed in a gruff voice, “Don’t underestimate that stringbean— the bastard burned me.”

The first voice choked out an obnoxious chuckle. “Yeah, he got you good! But that was before we strung up his arms and drenched him— he wasn’t even able to manage a spark. Surely the little beast can handle him now!”

“It’ll be your money you’re losing,” the gruff voice grumbled before the slat covering the window in the door was pulled open. “What the hell?”

“Was it the goblin?” the other voice asked expectantly. “I told ya it’d be the goblin! Let me see—” The sound of shoving followed and a narrower face was staring through the window. “Hey, they didn’t do nothing! Stupid goblin.”

Nott stepped towards the door and snarled, recognizing the voices of the crownsguard who threw her in there in the first place. Caleb lightly lifted a knee to try to nudge her back away from the door.

“It is best not to anger them,” Caleb whispered, not wanting his voice to carry to the guards. “just let them lose interest.”

The one looking through the window pounded on the door impatiently. “C’mon, that human’s the only food yer gonna get!”

The other guard yanked him back. “Let’s go. We can check in later; my money’s still on the human.”

Nott resisted the desire to lunge towards the door again, distracted by the subtle tremors of the knee in front of her, as if that movement alone was taking up all of Caleb’s energy. She waited for the sound of the guards’ retreating footsteps to fade before turning to speak to Caleb. “What’s wrong with you?”

Caleb let his leg slide back down slowly, closing his eyes to rest for a moment. “Just a little cold; I am fine.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that,” Nott said as she placed the back of her hand against Caleb’s forehead, ignoring the way he flinched at the sudden contact. He definitely had a fever. “How long have you been trapped in here? You need a healer.”

“One week… two days… and 13 hours,” Caleb listed off emotionlessly.

Nott’s gaze moved up to the uncomfortable position of Caleb’s arms, the way they were angled painfully above his head, the shackles tightened forcefully over his wrists. Nott noticed a steady trickle of copper trailing away from the shackles down his arms; the shackles had been locked so tightly that they were digging into his skin, his fingers pale and turning slightly blue from lack of circulation.

Pushing off the ground, Nott stood on her tiptoes to try to see the locking mechanism of the shackles. Even though she knew it was pointless, she searched through her pockets again, hoping to have something left over that could help her pick the lock. She growled when she expectedly found nothing, murmuring an apology when Caleb flinched slightly away from her. 

“They can’t leave you shackled like this for so long, it’s-it’s inhumane! Don’t these places have laws?” Nott bared her teeth into the darkness to bite back another snarl. 

Caleb shook his head, letting it drop against one of his arms in fatigue. “They don’t care about the comfort of people like me… of people like you. And I will admit,” he added, laughing weakly. “I did not exactly come peacefully. Magic… puts people on edge.” Caleb reopened one eye, squinting up at Nott in the dark and seeing the worry in her tensed features. “Really, I am—” at Nott’s glare, he quickly rechose the word he was going to use. “not fine, as you insist, but I have been much worse.”

Nott collapsed back down next to him, angry at herself for not hiding her lockpicks better, or angry for having gotten herself captured in the first place and being forced to care about this vulnerable stranger. Despite his age, his eyes held a frightened vulnerability that made him seem no more than a boy to her, so much like her boy had been. 

Another shiver jolted Caleb, his eyes scrunching closed in pain as the stretched muscles in his back revolted against the movement. He coughed wetly, a wheeze rattling in his lungs when he tried to regain his breath.

Nott fisted her hands tightly, feeling her sharp nails digging into her palms, grounding her in her anger, in her desire to ease this boy’s pain. “I’m going to get you out of here, even if I have to tear those guards to shreds.” She hoped she’d get the chance. The one guard had put bets on her goblinoid ferocity; she couldn’t wait to show him just how right he was. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but the past couple months have been a bit rough for me. But nonetheless, here's the next installment of my unabashed excuse to hurt Caleb for my own enjoyment!

Caleb watched as Nott manically paced the confines of their cell, bright yellow eyes narrowed as she searched relentlessly for some scrap of trash that could somehow aid her quest in freeing the wizard from his binds. He wanted to tell her that her efforts would most likely prove fruitless, but he didn’t have the heart to discourage her. At least her mission was serving to keep her distracted from the unfortunate circumstances they were both trapped in. 

A draft of cold air wormed its way into their small cell and brushed against Caleb. He did his best to suppress a shiver, as his new goblin friend(?) seemed to be pained by his distress. At least the pain in his wrists from the tight shackles had numbed— though, that was most likely not a good sign, but Caleb chose to appreciate the numbness nonetheless. The pain that burned its way through his back was enough for him to focus on in the moment, let alone the piercing staccato beating behind his eyes and the tightness that was steadily crushing the air from his lungs. 

Nott paused suddenly from her searching, clawed hands digging into her wiry black hair in frustration. Their captors knew better than to leave anything of use in their cell, and she was finally reaching that conclusion. Caleb wished she wouldn’t waste her energy on him. Despite the amount of pain and discomfort he was in, he knew it was much less than he deserved. At least Nott should be able to have some semblance of comfort.

“Come rest, schatz,” Caleb murmured, his voice much weaker than he had intended. He worried that it had been too quiet for Nott to hear when she hesitated, but with a grumble of annoyance, the goblin slunk back next to Caleb and slid down to a defensive squat next to him, eyes staring tensely at the door as if waiting for a fight to present itself at any moment. Caleb struggled to find enough feeling in his numb fingers to produce a half-hearted snap, but fortunately it was enough to produce Frumpkin from thin air. He mentally instructed Frumpkin to go purr in front of Nott, since he couldn’t bury his fingers and face into his familiar’s fur as he desperately wanted. 

“You should save your strength, Caleb,” Nott ordered, though she began patting Frumpkin awkwardly anyway, mostly to appease the wizard next to her. She petted the cat for a few moments before standing up abruptly, a grin suddenly breaking across her face. 

“Frumpkin!” she screeched, before clamping a hand over her mouth in an effort to silence her sudden outcry. She paused for a few seconds, dreading the sounds of footsteps rushing back towards their cell, but none came.

Caleb looked towards her in confusion. “Ja, that is his name.”

Nott kneeled back next to Caleb, still grinning widely. “No, we could use Frumpkin! How far can you poof him?”

Despite being addled by fever, his mind was still sharp enough to catch on to Nott’s plan. “Thirty feet, but I would have to be able to see where I am apparating him.”

Nott glanced up at the barred window in the door of their cell. The guards had left the slat open when they had checked in on them, hoping to see one of the inmates torn to shreds by the other. Thirty feet would be plenty of space to get Frumpkin outside their cell, but that window was the only view Caleb was going to get.

Caleb followed her gaze to the windows and grimaced at the amount of effort it would take for him to be able to see through it, but for Nott’s sake alone, he slowly started to try to push himself up far enough to see through the bars. He bit his lip to muffle a groan of pain as the pulled muscles in his back disagreed with his movement, but he found himself too weak to stand on his own and collapsed back onto the stone floor of the cell, panting from the exertion and a new layer of sweat breaking out on his brow.

“Let me help you, Caleb!” Nott exclaimed, standing and holding onto his side. After a moment of just breathing, Caleb nodded shakily and let Nott help him into a half standing position, his arms stretched awkwardly behind him and his knees trembling as he attempted to hold his own weight. Nott, the poor girl, ended up bearing most of his weight as he craned his neck to see through the barred window. He couldn’t see the floor beyond their cell, but the open air would have to do. Snapping was difficult with the angle his arms were stuck in and the persistent numbness of his fingers, but he managed to snap once to dismiss Frumpkin and another to make him appear in front of the window, where he immediately fell with a soft thump on the floor beyond and a startled hiss. 

As soon as he apparated Frumpkin beyond the window, the strength he had summoned to stand enough to see through the window slipped away from him, and Nott quickly helped to soften Caleb’s fall as he collapsed back onto the cold floor, one of his shoulders popping uncomfortably at the change in position. 

Nott sped to the door to whisper-shout to Frumpkin, “Find me a wire or something!” She turned back to Caleb. “Can you tell him to find a wire?”

Caleb made a motion with his head to beckon Nott back to his side. “I can watch through Frumpkin’s eyes and have him search for a wire, but be aware that I will be blind and deaf during this process. Tap me on the knee if something goes wrong, ja?”

Nott watched as Caleb leaned his head against the brick wall and his eyes went white. She waved a hand in front of his face and snapped to test him and received no response. She watched the door nervously, listening closely for any sound of danger.

Telepathically connected to his familiar’s senses, Caleb waited to be sure no guards were approaching before instructing Frumpkin to stealth through the jailhouse in search of any wire that could aid Nott. Frumpkin made his way down the hallway, low to the ground and moving slowly to avoid making too much noise. He stopped before an opening to a room with a few tables and chairs; it seemed to be a makeshift breakroom for the guards and currently empty. Frumpkin skulked quietly into the room, staying in the shadows in case any guards chose that moment to take a break. There was a trash bin in the corner, and Caleb telepathically instructed Frumpkin to jump in and take a look for anything Nott could use as a makeshift lockpick. He felt a telepathic reply of indignation before his trusty familiar reluctantly complied with his request. 

“What’s going on? Did Frumpkin get spotted?!” Nott exclaimed, nervously glancing towards the door and back at the wizard beside her, panicked from what seemed to her to be ages since Caleb sent his cat on the mission. Nott shook Caleb’s shoulders, forgetting in her panic that he was currently deaf and not just ignoring her. “Caleb, what’s wrong?”

Caleb disconnected from Frumpkin’s view abruptly and looked towards Nott. “Vas—? What is wrong?”

Nott sat back sheepishly, recalling the side effects of Caleb’s connection with his familiar. “I was just wondering what was taking so long. Did Frumpkin get spotted?”

“Nein, alles ist gut. But I need to check back in to make sure he is still undetected.”

Caleb reassured, waiting for a nod from Nott before going back into Frumpkin’s vision. 

What seemed like hours to Nott, but was more likely no more than five minutes, passed in silence; she managed to be more patient this time and not interrupt Caleb’s focus. Finally, Caleb’s vision returned to normal and he turned to her with a lopsided grin, the biggest smile she had seen him make since she was thrown into the cell.

“Frumpkin is the best cat,” Caleb murmured excitedly. Rather than elaborate on his statement, he nodded his head towards the cell door, where Nott could make out a small scratching sound.

Leaving her defensive post beside Caleb, Nott hurried to the door and bent down in time to see a small orange paw nudge a thin copper wire under the bottom of the door. She took hold of it quickly and turned back towards Caleb, bouncing happily. “Look, Caleb! This will work perfectly!” She took a step back towards the wizard. “Now this might take a few minutes, as it’s not as effective as my lockpicking set, but in no time I’ll have you out of those—”

A gruff voice echoing down the hallway caused both cellmates to freeze in fear. “What the fuck—?! Who let a cat down here?” The sound of a boot skidding across the stone floor and hitting a soft surface, an abrupt displeased meow and a poofing sound was the only warning Nott had to realize that their escape plan was going off the rails sooner than expected. She quickly shoved the wire in a pocket and jumped to the side of Caleb, in a defensive pose facing the door, her teeth bared. 

After a moment of angry muttering outside the cell, the door was pulled open violently and the guard who had discovered Frumpkin bolted in, heading directly for Caleb with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Nott growled and made to lunge at the guard, but Caleb shook his head, urging her to stay safe and not interfere.

The guard reached Caleb within seconds, taking a fistful of his dark red hair and forcing Caleb up off the stone floor, his back arching awkwardly due to the strained position. “I thought we already taught you a lesson about using magic, but clearly you need another reminder.” The guard whistled and another joined him; Nott recognized him as the one who captured her in the first place.

“Watch the goblin while I take care of this one,” the guard still holding Caleb ordered, using his other hand to produce a ring of keys. Nott was relieved to see him unlocking the shackles, but her relief faded as Caleb all but sagged without the chains to hold him up, now only held up by the guard’s tight grip on his hair. Caleb tried to bring up his hands to pry off the guard’s grip, but he lacked the energy and his fingers were too numb to cooperate. Nott itched to move forward, but the guard in front of her had his shortsword out and she got the feeling that he wouldn’t feel too much remorse if he was forced to strike her down. She had to remind herself that she would be no use to Caleb if she got herself killed. Despite that reasoning, she couldn’t stop herself from releasing a growl and lunging forward when she saw Caleb being forcibly dragged out of the cell. The guard in front of her kicked her and sent her flying back into the puddle of water at the back of the cell. She scurried to her feet just in time to see the door slam shut, with Caleb on the other side. 

**Author's Note:**

> I limited the amount of German I used in this as I am aware of the unreliability of Google Translate:
> 
> Bitte - Please  
Nein - No  
Ja - Yes


End file.
